Don't they have....

Go now!

I just caught the end of an interview on Wireless 4 with someone from the SNP bleating on about having another referendum within the next 5 years.

I hate Salmond with a passion - In the event of a No vote, I'd like to see him hung drawn and quartered, but sadly I think that's just a little against the law.

So long as they take their share of the debt and most importantly are no longer allowed to enjoy the use of the Pound (rough with the smooth...) then good luck to them. As a previous commentard made, it will be nice to watch Salmond trying to explain away the failure to deliver on his promises and maybe it's the Scots that will put his to the gallows.

As for TV - I wonder what will happen to the BBC. It's British after all. I hope they can all get the Outer Hebrides Broadcasting Corporation....

Re: Just me?

A pointless concern in the grand scheme of things.

I don't give a rat's arse about SSL snooping - that's a vuln that can be fixed. It's corporate data theft that really pisses me off - but no-one wants do do anything about because it's apparently legal. Apps such as LinkedIn can steal your contact lists from the mobile app and fuck knows what Facebook is up to in the background.

I had a notification that Dropbox are going to change their terms and conditions - No idea what they will be doing and I don't give a shit. It's going. My trust is gone in "free" apps. All these c**ts want is your personal information. Same as the care.data shite. Harvest peoples info and flog it.

The net isn't what it was 15 years ago - marketing bastards see it as a convenient way of stealing information by way of small print and profiting from it and mobile OS vendors seem to be quite happy to provide methods via the API to allow this to happen.

The whole ethos of the net is fucked and exploitation of vulnerabilities is a minor crack in the huge hole of distrust and contempt that I have for companies who appear to be whiter-than-white but have nefarious aims.

HP-28C

My first boss had an HP-28C and I loved using it, so bought one myself. Sadly the LCD got damaged my some detritus that came flying out of a motor that I was testing. So I ended up trading it in for an HP48GX which never had the same feel as the 28. I still use the 48 today and also have the HP-48 emulator on my iPhone.

Before that, I had the Sharp PC-1403 Pocket Computer which I still have and used to store formula's for when I took my exams at Poly. I should put some new batteries in it and see if it still works after all these years.

The one thing that always works in emergency comms scenario's is HF radio - specifically NVIS (Near Vertical Incident Skywave) where a signal is propagated vertically towards the ionosphere and is reflected back to ground in an parasol illumination pattern covering hundreds of miles. Gets over any V/UHF line of sight issues and is extremely robust, especially when coupled with modern digital modulation schemes such as Olivia which can resolve signals -13dB below the noise floor. I've used 500mW to establish reliable comms over 500 miles.

No need to put up large antenna structures or run kW of power - a low slung dipole as an inverted Vee with an apex of about 8m and ends close to ground is all that is needed.

Good luck Bill!

Really sad to hear you are leaving us, I will miss reading your articles on wireless comms and technology. And thanks most of all for investigating and highlighting PLT and it's impact on spectrum when very few others were bothered enough to even listen.

Early adoption

Is not always a good idea, especially with things that have a lot of new code and hardware in them. As stuff gets more complex, there is more to go wrong with them.

I tend to let the early adopters do the pain for me - I'm quite happy to hear the bleats of woe and the promises of fixes that mess something else up.. Wait 6-12 months and then take the plunge based on reading reviews and general market feedback.

Re: Well, that's good news really...

Jack, you are missing the big picture (pun intended)

. It's about EMC - Electromagnetic Compatibility. The EMC regulations were put in force to ensure that electronic stuff works together. You buy one thing and it doesn't stop something else working. It happens to be EU law.

Your attitude may be not to give a fuck about interference to something that you have no interest in and your enjoyment of your TV is more important than someone else’s enjoyment of radio communications.

What you fail to understand is that this is the tip of the iceberg.

Cheap LED replacement lamp fittings are becoming a major problem to DAB and FM reception and have also been reported to cause issues to xDSL broadband services. Why? Because they are cost engineered and as EMC components cost money, they are often left out of the production build, meaning that they radiate radio signals. Not just on Short-Wave but throughout the VHF spectrum.

Have a look at this: http://conversation.which.co.uk/energy-home/led-bulb-radio-interference-dab-test/

First generation Powerline networking products were a problem to Short Wave users, but the later products are using VHF spectrum and are also causing similar problems to DAB, FM and xDSL.

What really made me laugh was someone whined about interference to their powerline HDMI distribution system getting caned by LED lights.

The upshot is that EMC regulations are being over-ridden to ensure that There are "no barriers to trade" The real scary message is that now precedents have been set, there are no almost no limits to the amount of electromagnetic junk that a product can spew out, yet still be CE marked (EMC compliance is a mandatory part of getting EMC approval!) and put on the market.

So in the current market, you cannot buy something in the knowledge that it's use won't knock out something else in your home working. Same goes with your neighbour. What's to stop him wanting to enjoy his floodlit kitchen at the expense of you watching your Plasma TV? And it will get worse.

Maybe that might be a more interesting prospect to you than a Lib Dem treasury meeting :)

Re: I bet a lot more people would switch if...

Ubuntu

Is a really great operating system - But it's not something that just works out of the box. Windows does.

That is the reason why it is going to be difficult to get people to migrate to Linux. Every machine that I've installed it on has needed some coaxing and drivers downloading (especially for internet connectivity) to make good. I don't have a problem with this - I can faff about until the cows come home, but it's not going to be an easy transition for out Teutonic pals. An OS has to work out of the box - if it doesn't, it's going to make more enemy’s than friends.

One bad experience can have more of a detrimental effect than if that person had not tried to install. Unity is also a real dog IMO. Ubuntu has been promising a lot for a long time but to make it work, it does still need a level of competence to install which most users don't have. Until this is addressed, Linux will not get the user base it so deserves.

Stones and glass buildings

Yay for more stupid crap!

We have PLT and this is just extending the realms of useless techno-shite! Bring it on! I'm sure it will play nicely with everything else on 2.4GHz and not de-sense every receiver front end in the surrounding area...

Re: Am I alone?

It would be nice if the Nvidia tool could make settings changes to Powermiser permanent. As it stands, I have to go into the tool every time I boot to get smooth scrolling. It seems to be a commonly reported bug..

The enemy on the wrist strikes again...

Shrinking antenna galleries

I've noticed over the years a dramatic reduction in the number of horns and dishes on the Birmingham BT tower, the older analogue links being replaced by fewer smaller digital ones. The silent drawing to an end of a chapter in communications engineering.

Stax!

I've been using a pair of Stax SR-303 electrostatic earspeakers and an SRM-313 enegiser for getting on for a decade. Not a portable system and you look like a Cyberperson wearing them. But they work really well. Anyone who is serious about getting a good set of cans should listen to Stax.

When I'm out and about I use a pair of B&O headphones. Not a fashionista, I bought them because I liked the sound. IMO they are very good. Well made and I've had them for quite a few years and no problems with broken wires. Beware that there are fake ones on E-Bay; I bought and sent back a pair.

Re: What a surprise! Linux is STILL not ready for the desktop!

Really?

I've had Ubuntu running on my Vaio VPCEB4L1E for a few years now - It's running 12:04 and Bluetooth works perfectly for me - I can use my phone as a modem with it. Hibernate works when I close the lid. Granted, I'm limited to 802.11G at the moment as it has the Centrino 1000 chippery but that doesn't cause me any problems.

Then there is my main home office machine which is another Ubuntu box. Dual monitors with an Nvidia card, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, serial port and works perfectly, as does my wireless printer - It does everything that I want it to do including controlling my radio station. Same as the old machine that this replaced. Runs Ubuntu and does what I want it to do without fuss or waiting around. With this machine I had to faff about to get the wired Ethernet chippery working - but if you are delivering a platform with an OS, then there are no excuses for not getting the basics right before shipping. Sounds to me like Dell haven't done their job in putting together a build to support their hardware.

Unfortunately, Ubuntu is not really ready for main-stream release because it is not an out-of-the-box experience. But if it does what you want it to do and you have the time to mess about, it's a much tighter solution than Windows. Stuff I can't do on Ubuntu (audio editing mainly) I can do on my Mac.

Thanks

Hmm

I think I'm going to stay with my iPhone 4 and get a new battery. Since the discontinuation of the 30-way connector and the demise of SJ, I'm quite happy to sit on the fence for a year and see what transpires at Apple. I'm not a happy fruity punter at the moment as I don't think that the products offer the stability they once did.

I'm still running iOS5.1.1 based on the reviews and tales of woe I've read about subsequent "upgrades" and I'll be really quite annoyed to scrap my clock radio charging dock and I'm not bastardising it with a huge great crappy adaptor.

Re: 4G must be going badly

I really am hacked off with being charged to "tether" - When I took out the contract almost two years ago, I was told that i wouldn't be charged to tether. Then the bills came in.; Funny how only my iPhone attracts tether charges, yet my old phone doesn't. I probably spent the best part of a couple of days arguing with Vodafone over charging to "tether"

I too may well be leaving Vodafone soon. Shame as the service used to be very good.

Re: Crud generators.

You might want to look at NVIS communications - Near Vertical Incident Skywave. It 's a propagation mode where you mount an antenna at near ground level and you launch your power vertically towards the ionosphere. The signal is then propagated back to earth and it's rather like an umbrella effect. Using a decent digital transmission mode (such as Olivia) you can resolve signals -13dB below the noise floor.

From my home in the Midlands, I can reliably communicate with other amateurs across the UK using these propagation and modulation modes and at low powers - sub 10W very easily. I have had contacts at nearly 1000km using 100mW.

I can very easily set up a full "HAM " kit anywhere. I don't need an external source of power and everything I need including a Toughbook computer, transceiver, antennas, modem, poles etc all fit in a bog-standard rucksack.

In deepest Wales where your phone is as much use as a one-legged man at an arse kicking competition and I have my kit with me, I will have comms where you don't.

The comments that you make about listening to static and truckers are so passe. We have heard it all before and just smacks of ignorance.

You might want to listen to this:

http://www.g7ltt.com/audio-files/911r4.mp3

It is about the work that amateurs did 9/11 when emergency comms went off line.